LABOUR staggered from one bitter power struggle to another yesterday as it emerged Ed Balls could quit frontline politics if his job was handed to David Miliband.

Party leader Ed Miliband stoked the flames when he revealed the “door is open” for his older brother to return to the Shadow Cabinet after ending their family rift over which of the siblings should become Labour leader.

He also refused to guarantee that Mr Balls will remain as Shadow Chancellor until the next election in 2015.

His comments, in a newspaper interview, intensified speculation that he is to wield the axe on his right-hand man.

Friends of Mr Balls claimed he would quit the front bench if he had to make way for the elder Miliband

Friends of Mr Balls claimed he would quit the front bench if he had to make way for the elder Miliband. But a source close to Ed Balls last night described suggestions that he would move to the backbenches as “total rubbish”.

David Cameron tried to test Mr Miliband’s nerve over the matter in a Commons clash yesterday as he said the Labour leader has a Shadow Chancellor “who he won’t back but can’t sack”.

The wrangling, between two of Labour’s biggest beasts, threatens to plunge the party into a hugely damaging civil war with just over two years until the next general election.

Sources suggest the row could tear the party apart in the same way as the power struggle between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Relations between the Milibands were shattered when younger brother Ed beat David to become Labour leader in September 2010.

For months friends of David said he was waiting for his brother to fail after he refused to join Ed’s top team. But aides to the Labour leader say that after his well-received conference speech last year Ed is now more confident about inviting his brother to join the Shadow Cabinet.

In his interview, Ed Miliband said: “Of course it was a bruising leadership contest. As time goes on that sort of recedes and that’s good for our relationship.

“I wouldn’t take it as indication about a change in his view he’s not coming back to the Shadow Cabinet, but the door is open.”

Asked if Mr Balls was guaranteed to hold the Shadow Chancellor’s post up to the election, Mr Miliband said: “I have the same rule for everybody across the Shadow Cabinet.

“I am going to do nothing that’s about measuring the curtains. It’s the measuring the curtains thing – you start naming your Cabinet two and a half years before the election? Honestly.

“I think Ed Balls is doing a great job but I am not going to get into that.”

Mr Miliband also revealed that he and David had patched up their differences and had a family get-together during the Christmas break.

As speculation mounts of a possible return, David Miliband appeared to flex his economic credentials during a powerful Commons speech on Tuesday when he attacked the Government’s plans to cap benefits rises at one per cent.

But in a sharp departure from party policy he seemed to accept the Coalition’s overall spending plans in full.

Last night Tory Economic Secretary Sajid Javid said: “With such deep divisions at the very top of the Labour party, it’s no wonder they can’t develop a coherent economic policy.”